The last time such talks were held, they collapsed after Greek Cypriot voters refused to accept a UN-negotiated plan of reunification. This time, hopes are higher because of the good personal relationship between the leaders of the two sides (who share a trade union background) and encouraging signs that they are both committed to the success of the talks.
Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat was in Brussels just before the talks officially started. He said ‘all the elements of the Cyprus problem are known, so it is possible to solve [it]’ at the latest ‘before the election of the European Parliament, meaning June 2009.’ The reunification of Cyprus would be positive for the EU, added Mr Talat, as ‘ending this problem would contribute to the very meaning of the EU and European integration.’
The Greek Cypriot leader, Dimitris Christofias, came to power last February vowing to settle the dispute, and still has a 70 percent approval rating. The main issues of dispute include the degree of centralisation that should be agreed on in a new federation, property rights for Cypriots displaced when the island was first divided, and intervention rights for Greece and Turkey.
In this atmosphere of renewed political belief in the island’s reunification, TRIALOG was pleased to facilitate the creation of a meta-platform, bringing together development NGOs from both Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot parts of the country. It is hoped that the meta-platform will help to foster a civil society that bridges t
he societal divide and works together to meet its goals more effectively.At the meta-platform building event which TRIALOG held on September 18, 2008 in the 'buffer zone' in Nicosia, 7 Turkish- and 7 Greek-Cypriot NGOs carried on the negotiations started in February 2006 during the first TRIALOG Platform-Building Seminar in Cyprus, with the aim to establish an umbrella of the 2 already existing and registered co-ordination bodies (see also article: Cyprus News: NGDO platform in the South registered).
Already at the very beginning, a lot of extremely positive assumptions and expectations made clear, that there´s no obstacle any more to create such a “Meta-Platform”; after 7 hours of intensive discussions on the nature of such a cross-border platform, a common structure with 3 subgroups on Development Education and Awareness Raising (DE/AR), on Civil Society Strengthening and on Policy was defined.
The DE/AR subgroup will already start functioning in October with a phone conference. Also the coordinators of the two regional platforms committed to continue to work together and to prepare decisions of their boards/general assamblies by November, which will as a next step allow to write the letter to CONCORD asking for membership of the new island-wide platform in the European NGO Confederation for Relief and Development.
Links
- EU Observer Turkish Cypriot leader optimistic about reunification http://euobserver.com/15/26722
- EU Observer Optimism as Cyprus launches peace talks http://euobserver.com/15/26678
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